The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010- 113 mins)

Narnia has been a place that has been loved by many hated by some, but always looked amazing on the big screen. In this installment we find Lucy, Edmund and their pesky cousin Eustace being brought back into the fantasy world. They are brought aboard the king’s ship “The Dawn Treader” and tasked with joining them on another fantastic quest. We find out that now King Caspian is headed to find what unrest is going on in Narnia at the “edge of the world” and to a lone Island of Evil. In typical Narnian fashion they encounter a huge manner of fantasy creatures including, dragons, minotaurs, dwarves, one legged pixies, and sea monsters.

What I have always loved about these movies is the way they translate the books underlying themes and are able to draw the viewer in to the whole world. They show the world just as I always imagined it in my mind from reading the books, and more importantly show it to us in a way that doesn’t confuse and let’s us get lost in the whole beauty. Narnia has always been about what can the children do more so then why can they do it. They blind us with story and make us even have faith in even the most minute detail. When a new ridiculous race of beings is exposed to us we don’t think “well that cannot exist”, we think “awe check that out how amazing”. I like this effect in the CG and love it more in storytelling.

The children reprise their roles well and their aging in real life mirrors the children in these later books very well. It’s a testament to their performances that they convince us they have matured in the same manner as the characters have. The only shame here for the films is that we have likely seen the last of the Narnia movies in their present incarnation. Disney has stuck a fork in the series and that’s a shame. We might still get lucky that there will be more from someone else in a semi “re-boot” (after all the other books keep going with the younger children as keeping the youth involved more with Narnia is a central theme), b/c there has always been plenty of love for these movies but this last one didn’t make what was expected. So while I am hopeful, I am not 100% optimistic about it. We can hope and have faith C.S. Lewis fans, maybe one day the next installment of the series might be made. Either way we have 3 excellent movies to watch and get lost in for now.

Verdict–> It’s an easy recommendation to make. If you watched both the first Narnia (Lion the Witch and Wardrobe) and Prince Caspian, OR just seen one or the other, and liked either or both of them, then you will like this one. It has the same production value and themes as the others so you will enjoy it. If you have not seen any of the others, I suggest you grab the 1st one on netflix first and enjoy it and then tackle the sequels. A great fun family movie that I give a high recommendation to.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS